LG Ships Second Generation BH200 ‘Super Blu’ Dual-Format Player

Announced in September, LG is now shipping their second generation Blu-ray Disc / HD DVD dual-format ‘Super Blu’ deck, the BH200. While their original BH100 was a full Blu-ray player, but not a full HD DVD deck – it could only play HD DVD movies, and had none of the menus or interactive features (no HDi support) – the BH200 is a full Blu-ray and HD DVD compatible unit. It also supports Blu-ray Profile 1.1, which means PIP support on coming titles. And it will reportedly be upgraded to Profile 2.0 aka BD-Live with an update. (It certainly has the hardware, as it supports HD DVD’s online features.) That’s the good news. The bad news is the price – $999.99, which is what you’ll find it selling for at retailers such as Amazon.

If you really want a combo player, the Samsung BD-UP5000 is $799.99 with the same basic feature set – fully HD DVD and Blu-ray support, with Profile 1.1. And Profile 2.0 expected in an update. (Again, it has the hardware required.)

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., Dec. 10 /PRNewswire/ — LG Electronics’ second-generation LG Super Blu(TM) Player (model BH200) is now available nationally at leading consumer electronics dealers. This advanced multi-format disc player (suggested retail price $999) lets consumers choose from the widest variety of high-def video content as it is the only player capable of playing both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs.

“LG introduced the BH200 to focus on consumer needs by ending the confusion caused by the current format war,” said Allan Jason, vice president of consumer electronics marketing at LG Electronics USA, Inc. “This second generation, dual-format player allows consumers to enjoy their favorite movies, features and extras, regardless of format, on the best-in-class high-definition media player.”

One Player, Latest Technology

The Super Blu Player offers consumers increased HDTV entertainment choices because it provides access to between 50 and 70 percent more high-def movie titles than any single-format player.

The multi-format combination ensures users of the BH200 the latest technology available from both high-def disc formats. The LG Super Blu Player features the “BD Standard Profile,” and is also ready for “BD Profile 1.1″ when Blu-ray discs with the new profile become available in 2008. When such Blu-ray discs begin to be distributed, viewers will be able to enjoy advanced options, such as “Picture-in-Picture”, for an expanded viewing experience. In addition, the Super Blu Player provides access to web-connected interactivity available from a number of current HD DVDs. Access to these features enables viewing of storyboards, production videos and director’s commentary, as well as up-do-date and real-time information, while the movie is playing.

In addition to supporting the latest high-def disc technologies, the Super Blu Player is the ideal match for movie enthusiasts and even music enthusiasts as it supports audio CDs and has the ability to up-scale standard DVDs to Full HD 1080p resolution bringing new life to existing DVD movie libraries.

“The BH200′s enhanced features and functionality eliminate the need for a second or third player and the additional cables and remotes that those units would require,” said Tim Alessi, director of consumer electronics marketing at LG Electronics USA, Inc. “Its full support for features available on both Blu-ray discs and HD DVDs makes the Super Blu the flagship of the LG home video product line and complements the company’s expanded line-up of ‘Full HD’ 1080p flat-panel HDTVs.”

The Ultimate Movie Viewing Experience

The LG Super Blu Player can output video resolution up to 1080p via the HDMI connection, delivering an outstanding image quality that is ideally suited to LG’s line of 1080p plasma and LCD TVs. The unit includes multiple inputs/outputs such as HDMI 1.3 with Deep Color, component/composite video outputs, digital optical and analog audio outputs as well as a LAN Ethernet port for network interactivity. The player’s USB Media Host port on the front panel provides access to digital music and photo slideshows, making it a powerful and versatile media center for high-def home theaters.

The new Super Blu Player also incorporates LG’s SimpLink(TM) connectivity solution, which enables easier control of other LG SimpLink-compatible equipment. SimpLink units are connected with an HDMI cable and use the HDMI-CEC communication standard, which allows the user to control other components on-screen or directly from each component.

About LG Electronics USA, Inc.

LG Electronics USA, Inc., based in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., is the North American subsidiary of LG Electronics, Inc., a $48.5-billion (2006 consolidated worldwide revenues) global force in consumer electronics, home appliances and mobile communications. In the United States, LG Electronics sells a wide range of digital appliances, digital display and digital media products, and mobile phones under LG’s “Life’s Good” marketing theme. For more information, please visit http://www.lgusa.com/.

About MegaZone

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OK, I’m really buggy about the Blu-Ray profiles. This is one reason why I’ve been sitting on the fence about buying Blu-ray. I feel I’m not alone in this. The Profile 1.1 players are just hitting the market (some are just pre-orders for now). I don’t want to invest in hardware that will be obsoleted in a month or two.

Wikipedia has a nice summary of the hardware requirements for the various profiles. From the Wiki table, some of the requirements for 2.0 are hardware, not just firmware upgrades. Do these players have the necessary hardware to be upgraded to Profile 2.0? I haven’t been able to find all the hardware specs for these dual-format players.

http://www.gizmolovers.com/ MegaZone

The combo players should have all the hardware to support BD-Live, since they already support HD DVD’s online functionality, which has similar requirements to BD-Live for hardware. The PS3′s hardware is also more then enough to support BD-Live. In theory it would only take a firmware update for these units.